Lelo

I throw my handbag as far away from me as possible when I arrive at home on tuesday, also known as "The Big Date Day," according to Danny. I throw myself on the sofa and just lie face down, taking deep breaths.

Today was hectic at work, it's always busy at A&R but today takes the cake. "That's what you get for talking to a certain blue eyed man until the wee hours of the morning," says my ever present sarcastic conscience, making me roll my eyes. That was certainly not a very smart decision. I feel like taking a nap but Danny would throw a major fit if he came home and found me asleep on such an "auspicious" day. His words.

I may always be complaining about how hard my job is but I never forget to be grateful though because I know that it could always be worse. A&R is a great learning and working place, I am very lucky to be working there. Not a lot of people are able to have jobs that begin at eight AM and end at four PM. Some people don't even have a job to complain about. At least I have a well paying job, a nice car and I'm getting my own place soon. Some people don't have all of that.

I finally gather enough energy to climb the stairs to my room and take off my office wear then change into cut off shorts and a loose t-shirt. I go into the kitchen to make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of warm milk.

I constantly check my phone for any new message from Danny, he has been blowing up my phone non stop today. He's in charge of my outfit and make up as always but he's refusing to show me anything. A smile comes unbidden to my face as my fingers seem to have a mind of their own and they go to open a message I got from Alexander this morning.

Alex: Good morning babygirl, I hope you slept well. I'm sorry for keeping you up last night, I can't wait to see your beautiful face tonight. I hope that you'll have a great day at work baby.

I'm sitting there grinning like an idiot when the long awaited message from Danny comes through.

Dannybear: I'm on the way home Lelz, I hope that you're not sitting on that couch you love so much or worse, sleeping. We only have two hours to beautify you so get ready so long.

I spring up from the couch I was sitting in and run towards the bathroom. Danny will kill me if he finds me sitting around and not getting ready. My poor friend has been running around like a headless chicken all day, trying to get everything in order for my date tonight. The least I can do is to meet him halfway.

As I get out of the bath, I hear the door opening... Danny . I wrap a towel around my waist and make my way downstairs. I find Danny sitting in the living room with his eyes closed, a look of pure exhaustion on his face. I eye the huge gift box sitting on top of the coffee table and give him a hug while standing behind the couch.

"Hey Lelz," he says tiredly while returning the hug.

"Hey Danny, thanks for everything you've done to ensure I look great tonight. How about I go to your salon and get one of the make up artists to doll me up? And then you can rest, you look exhausted." I say while massaging his shouders.

"No, I'm fine. You know that it's my job to take care of you and that also means that I'm the only one responsible for your make up and hair." He says with a scowl and I hold up my hands as a sign of peace.

"Okay, okay. I only said that because I have your best interests at heart as well and feel like you should relax."

"I'll relax when I see you on your way to your date with that gorgeous man."

I make my way around the couch and sit across from him. " About that: You've never liked Sam, you could barely tolerate him now you're supportive of whatever will be between Alexander and I. You were the one who told me that he's a notorious and cold heartbreaker. What's up with that?"

"First of all I trust you and I trust your judgement. You would never have given him the time of day that night if you were not sure of yourself. He looks and sounds like a good man who has made a few mistakes along the way. You ask why I let you go home with him that night? I saw the way that he looked at you, it was like he had never seen anyone as beautiful as you which is probably true because you my dear are gorgeous." He says in a babylike voice and pinching my cheeks, I laugh and swat his hand away from my face. "Do you remember how our parents would look at each other with so much love at all times? We both said that we'd never settle for anything less than that, you settled Lelz when you stayed with Sam. It's said that there's a beauty that's created to tame each playboy on this earth, who knows maybe that could be you for our Mr Greene."

"Ohhh please Danny, I have no time to be trying to change a grown man. He has to want to change by himself."

Danny looks at his watch and jumps to his feet. "As much as I want to continue this conversation babe, we are running out of time. Let's go get you ready so you can leave that man speechless."

He pushes me towards the stairs and follows after me with the gift box in his arms. I open the door to my bedroom and I lather myself with my strawberry scented body lotion as he sets up his make up equipment and take off the towel, exchanging it for my silk black robe.

"I'm done setting up Lelz, you can have a seat." I go sit down with my back to the vanity mirror and look up expectantly at Danny.

"Today we're going with a simple, natural look. Enhancing all your beautiful features and bringing them to the surface. Okay?"

"Go ahead and do your magic, fairy godbrother."

Time goes fast as Danny does what he's great at, which is turning plain Janes like me to gorgeous princesses. Pretty soon he's done but doesn't let me look at his work until I'm already dressed, like always.

He leaves me sitting there and goes to the gift box on top of my bed, he places it on top of my lap and looks at me expectantly.

"Well what are you waiting for? Open it already."

I open the box and a gasp escapes my lips as I stare at what's inside. I stare at the dusty pink dress in awe as I take it out.

It's got thin straps, the chest is deep cut leading to a cinched waist and a thigh high slit, all in all it's a knockout dress.

"It's beautiful Danny but it's a bit much for me, this dress would look better on someone a bit slender."

"That is why I'm the stylist and you're the pharmacist, Lelz. I know what looks good on every body I see. Trust me, have I ever let you down?"

"No." And that's the truth, Danny has always had my back and has never disappointed me ever.

"Good now get up and let me help you into it."

"Where's the price tag Danny?"

"I took it out obviously,"

"So that I wouldn't know how much it cost and therefore wouldn't be able to pay you back." I say, feeling upset. He's always buying me designer clothes then hiding the price tags or sometimes I'll open my closet and find new clothes in there that I've never seen before after a visit from him.

"This is a designer dress Danny, it must've been expensive."

"No it wasn't, even if it was I have loads of money. If I want to spend it on you please let me. If I see something I feel would look great on you, of course I'll buy it."

I decide to just leave it because we're always having the same argument and I can never win with Danny.

For underwear I decide on my matching light pink thong and strapless bra then Danny helps me into the dress. He goes into the box, takes out a pair of light pink heels and kneels at my feet to help me into them. He then finally turns me towards the mirror and just like all the times when I was a bit reluctant to trust in Danny's risky choices, he proves me wrong. The dress looks amazing on me, I actually look like a movie star.

I give him a tight hug and he kisses both of my cheeks, "wow. This dress is truly beautiful and I look amazing. Thank you so much Dannybear."

"It's my pleasure hun. Now come on let me take a few pictures of you, you'll want to remember this night when you two are an old married couple."

I laugh and do as he says, Danny is very stubborn. When he has decided on something, you'll never be able to change his mind. Five minutes later we hear the long awaited knock. Danny and I both look at each other, I'm very nervous while he looks pleased. "Right on time, stay here. I'll open the door, I want you to make a grand entrance and have him blown out of his mind."

I give him a nod, unable to speak. My best friend doesn't leave immediately but stands in front of me with his hands on my shoulders, looking very serious.

"Take a deep breath and try to relax Lelz. This dress looks like it was made especially for you. You look gorgeous..."

I calm a bit down and give him a reassuring smile. "Go open the door for him Danny, the poor man has been standing at the door for a while now."

"My family will always be my first priority Lelz, I have to make sure that you're always alright, anything other than that is secondary."

"I know, I can't thank you enough."

He smiles back at me and finally goes to open the door.

It's been years since I've had the stress of a first date. I finally open my bedroom door and stand at the top of the stairs.

Danny and Alexander's heads are close together as they appear to discuss something very important. It's like my date feels my presence because he stops mid sentence and turns to look up at me, with a bouquet of red roses in his hands. His eyes bulge out comically and his jaw drops to the floor. His eyes turn the dark shade of blue that never fails to leave me breathless as he takes in all of me. He's wearing a black tailored suit with a crisp white shirt, black tie and loafers. All in all he looks effortlessly elegant.

He climbs the stairs as I come down such that he meets me halfway down the stairs. "You look amazing Miss Dube, I'm a very lucky man tonight." He says handing me the roses.

"Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself."

We both make our way down with my hand on his arm. Danny looks up at us with pride shining in his eyes.

"You two make a very beautiful couple."

"Thank you," says Alexander smiling down at me. I hand the flowers to Danny so that he can put them in water. I give him a hug goodbye and Alexander shakes his hand, "don't forget what I said."

My date nods at him and helps me into my coat then opens the door for men our driveway is a parked black stretch limo with the chauffeur standing beside it.

I turn to Alexander in surprise, "a freakin' limo, isn't that too much?" He grins when he sees the shock on my face. "Of course not. Tonight we're going all out baby. Now let's go before it gets too late."

With my hand still on his arm, he leads me to the limo. The chauffeur goes to open the door for us but Alexander holds up his hand and opens the door for me himself.

The chauffeur gets inside the car after Alexander gets in. He rolls up the partition, giving us privacy and then we're off to wherever we'll be having dinner.

**********

Hello loves, here is Chapter 10 as promised. When I wrote this chapter it became too long, over 4000 words so I decided to cut it into two parts. Chapter 11 will soon be uploaded, please don't forget to vote and comment, I love to know what you think about each chapter. Happy reading ♥.

Dedicated to Caz-Latina thank you for all your wonderful comments and critique hun. Everyone please check out her stories❤. You definitely won't be disappointed.